If you're looking for an engine with way more than its share of weird plot twists in its story, you've come to the right place!

This aluminum V8 started life as a Buick in 1961, was shared with Pontiac and Oldsmobile (where it benefited from Turbo Rocket Fluid), then crossed the Atlantic and was installed in the MGB-GT V8, the Triumph TR8, and countless Land Rovers. Along the way, it powered Mickey Thompson's Dan Gurney-driven 1962 Indianapolis 500 car and (in Repco-modified SOHC form) drove Brabhams to Formula One victory in 1966 and 1967. GM discontinued the aluminum engine after the 1963 model year (due to various production headaches surrounding the aluminum casting process, hassles with aluminum-corroding antifreezes, and the suspicions of patriotic Americans who felt that a V8 with just 215 cubes must be some sort of subversive Red plot), but Rover kept it going all the way until 2006. The British V8 article on this engine is quite entertaining; it's a reprint of a 1976 Autocar article, with editorial responses to the virulent Anti-American sentiments of the original writer.
[British V8, Wikipedia]